Rent Bill is no good, say owners of houses in congested areas

Rent Bill is no good, say owners of houses in congested areas
RAJESH KUMAR

NEW DELHI, JULY 23: A large number of house-owners, particularly those having rental properties in the high density areas of the Capital, may never get the benefits of an amended Delhi Rent Act (DRA) even if the Bill gets past the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning on Monday.

A clause in the existing rent control legislation, which has been retained in the DRA Amendment Bill of 1997, has now raised the hackles of property owners in the highly congested areas like Walled City, Karol Bagh, Paharganj, urbanised villages, JJ colonies and old east Delhi localities that are under the control of the Slum Wing.

Section 82 of the Delhi Rent Control Act of 1958, which has now resurfaced as Section 14 in the amendment Bill, requires the landlords to first seek permission from the competent authority under the Slum Areas Act of 1956 before approaching Rent tribunals to seek eviction of their tenants.

In a meeting with Union Urban Development Minister Jagmohan on Thursday, the House Owners' Association (HOA) said ``the archaic clause should be completely removed from the amendment Bill''.

``Records are testimony to the fact that it can take up to 10 years to get clearance from the so-called competent authority. And even if the tribunal finally gives a decision favouring the landlord, the tenant has the right to go in for an appeal. Under such circumstances, we cannot pin any hopes on the new law,'' said Ved Prakesh Sharma of the HOA.

The clause in the amendment Bill, the property owners say, seeks to stymie the process of quick disposal of rent disputes by referring them to the slum authorities.

Contrary to popular belief, the MCD's Slum Wing not only takes care of civic amenities in slums, it is also responsible for several old and highly congested localities, otherwise inhabited by the middle class or -- as is the case of Chandini Chowk and Karol Bagh -- by wealthy traders.

``And these are the areas most problematic. Having rented out their residential and commercial properties decades ago, which are now worth crores of rupees but still fetch as low as Rs 100 in monthly rents, these landlords stand no chance to recover them even in the near future,'' said D.S. Bawa of the Society for Fair Laws and Justice that has been the most vocal organisation of landlords in the battle over the DRA.

Though the DRA of 1995 has already become a law, it has not been enforced as the government chose to introduce a Bill in 1997 to amend some of its contentious clauses.

Though the minister gave the customary I-will-look-into-the-matter assurance, sources in the government suggest that nothing can be done at such a late stage, especially if the government goes ahead with its promise of getting the amendment Bill cleared during the monsoon session.

The Delhi High Court, which was hearing a petition by Common Cause challenging the delay in the enforcement of the Delhi Rent Act, is also scheduled to give its verdict on August 24.